THE PASSIVE VOICE

Active: My grandfather planted this tree.

Passive: This tree was planted by my grandfather.
USE
The Passive is used:
1. when the agent (=the person who does the action) is unknown, unimportant or obvious from the
context.
Jane was shot. (We don’t know who shot her.)
This church was built in 1815. (Unimportant agent)
He has been arrested. (Obviously by the police)
2. to make more polite or formal statements.
The car hasn’t been cleaned. (more polite)
(You haven’t cleaned the car. – less polite)
3. when the action is more important than the agent, as in processes, instructions, events, reports,
headlines, new items, and advertisements.
30 people were killed in the earthquake.
4. to put emphasis on the agent.
The new library will be opened by the Queen.

ACTIVE TO PASSIVE
To change a sentence from the active voice to the passive voice:
 the object of the active voice sentence becomes the subject of the passive voice sentence.
Agatha Christie wrote this book.
This book was written by Agatha Christie.
 we change the main verb of the active voice sentence into the passive voice. The tense remains
unchanged.
 the subject of the active voice sentence becomes the agent of the passive sentence. It is placed
after the past participle and it is preceded by the preposition by.

Leslie took this photograph yesterday.

SUBJECT ACTIVE VERB OBJECT TIME COMPLEMENT

This photograph was taken by Leslie yesterday.

SUBJECT PASSIVE VERB AGENT TIME COMPLEMENT

AGENT
To say who did the action that we are talking about, ie. to refer to the agent, we use the preposition by
and the name (by Peter) , noun (by the teacher) or pronoun (by him) at the end of the sentence.
We usually only refer to the agent when it gives us some important information which otherwise would be
missing from the sentence.
Our house was designed by a famous architect.
We don’t mention the agent:
2. if we don’t know who has done what we are talking about.
Our car was stolen last night. (We don’t know who stole it)
3. if we are not interested in who has done what we are talking about or it is not important to mention
He has been taken to hospital. (What we are interested in is the fact that he has been taken to
hospital and not who has taken him.)
4. if it is easy to understand who did something without it being mentioned.
 The murderer was arrested last night. (It is not necessary to mention that he has been arrested
by the police because it is self-evident.)
5. if the subject of the active voice sentence is something like somebody, people, they, you, etc.
Someone broke the window. → The window was broken.

BY OR WITH?
In the passive voice, we use:
 by with the agent to refer to by whom the action is being done.
The door was opened by Mr Black. (Mr Blak = agent)
 with to refer to the instrument, object or material that was used for something to be done.
The door was opened with a key. (a key = the object that was used)
The omelette was made with eggs, cheese and peppers. (eggs, cheese and peppers = the
material that was used)

PASSIVE VERB TENSES

ACTIVE VOICE PASSIVE VOICE
Present Simple He delivers the letters. The letters are delivered.
Past Simple He delivered the letters. The letters were delivered.
Present Continuous He is delivering the letters. The letters are being delivered.
Past Continuous He was delivering the letters. The letters were being delivered.
Present Perfect He has delivered the letters. The letters have been delivered.
Past Perfect He had delivered the letters. The letters had been delivered.
Present perfect cont. He had been delivering …. The letters had been being delivered.
Future Simple He will deliver the letters. The letters will be delivered.
Be going to future He is going to deliver the letters. The letters are going to be delivered.
Modals He must deliver the letters. The letters must be delivered.
Perfect modals He must have delivered….. The letters must have been delivered.

1
 DOUBLE OBJECT VERBS
When we have verbs that take two objects like, for example, give somebody something, we can convert
the active sentence into a passive one in two ways:
a. by making the indirect (animate) object the subject of the passive voice sentence, which is also
the way that we usually prefer.
b. By making the direct (inanimate) object the subject of the passive voice.
Rick gave me (indirect object) this book (direct object).
I was given this book by Rick.
This book was given to me by Rick.
Some of the verbs that take two objects are: give, tell, send, show, bring, write, offer, pay, etc.
When the indirect object is alone after the verb in the passive voice sentence, it needs the preposition
to. If the indirect object of the active voice sentence is a personal pronoun it has to be changed into a
subject pronoun to be the subject of the passive voice sentence.

SUBJECT OBJECT
I ←→ me SUBJECT OBJECT
You ←→ you We ←→ us
He ←→ him You ←→ you
She ←→ her They ←→ them
It ←→ it

THE CAUSATIVE – TO HAVE SOMETHING DONE

We use the expression ‘to have something done’ ( have + object + past participle) to say:
 That somebody does something for you. Usually they’re things that are difficult to do yourself or you
don’t want to do yourself.
 That something unpleasant happened to somebody.

Questions and negations of the verb have are formed with do/does or did.

We can use the verb get instead of the verb have only in informal conversation.

Present simple He paints the house He has the house painted.

Present continuous He is painting the house. He is having the house painted.
Past simple He painted the house. He had the house painted.
Past continuous He was painting the house. He was having the house painted.
Future simple He will paint the house. He will have the house painted.
Future continuous He will be painting the He will be having the house painted.
Present perfect house.
He has painted the house. He has had the house painted.
Present perfect He has been painting the He has been having the house
continuous
Past perfect house.
He had painted the house. painted.
He had had the house painted.
Past perfect He had been painting the He had been having the house
continuous
Modal verbs house.
He must paint the house. painted.
He must have the house painted.
-ing form It’s worth painting the It’s worth having the house painted.
house.
 IMPERSONAL PASSIVE / PERSONAL PASSIVE

Verbs that refer to saying or thinking ( think, believe, say, report, know, consider, presume, hope…) are
often followed by a to-infinitive form in the passive.

Example: The police think he is in Argentina. He is thought to be

in Argentina. It is thought he is in argentina.

There are FOUR INFINITIVE FORMS, which we will use depending on the tense we have in the active
sentence.

Simple to write escribir

Continuous to be writing estar escribiendo
Perfect to have written haber escrito
Perf. Continuous to have been writing haber estado escribiendo

IN ORDER TO MAKE THIS TYPE OF PASSIVE SENTENCE, WE

1 Take the subject of the second sentence: He/It

2 Passive verb of the Reporting verb in the same tense as in the active: is thought
3 The verb of the second sentence in the Infinitive form: to be

WHICH FORM OF THE INFINITIVE DO WE USE?

 If it carries an idea of present or future to write

 It it carries an idea of past
to have written.
 If either of them are in a continuous form, you use the adequate Infinitive continuous form
to be writing or to have been writing
 Active Voice Impersonal Passive
People/ They/ We + verb It is + verb (past participle) that…
VERB TENSE (say, think, consider, reckon, claim ,etc..) It is (said/thought/claimed, understood ,etc.)

Simple People say he is English. It is said that he is English

present
We understand she doesn’t like football. It is understood that she doesn’t like football.

Present People think he is waiting for us now. It is thought that he is waiting for us now.
continuous

Future People expect that he will join the company soon. It is expected that he will join the company soon.
(will/going to)
Present They say that many smartphones are stolen every day. It is said that many smartphones are stolen every day.
passive
Present They think dinner is being cooked as we speak. It is thought that dinner is being cooked as we speak.
passive
continuous

Future passive People expect that taxes will be raised next year. It is expected that taxes will be raised next year.

People/ They/ We + verb It is + verb (past participle) that…

(say, think, consider, reckon, claim ,etc..) It is (said/thought/claimed, understood, etc.)
People think he has left for good. It is thought that he has left for good.
Present
Perfect The police assume that the arrested man has killed three people. It is assumed that the arrested man has killed three people.

Present perfect They know she has been working very hard. It is known that she has been working very hard.
continuous

The prosecution say he had killed her earlier that morning. It is said that he had killed her earlier that morning.
Past perfect
Past perfect They say he had been planning to leave his partner. It is said that he had been planning to leave his partner.
continuous
People say that he got married in Germany. It is said that he got married in Germany.
Past
People claim that he died two weeks ago. It is claimed that he died two weeks ago.
Past continuous They say he was studying very hard for his exam. It is said that he was studying very hard for his exam.

They report that two people were injured in the accident. It is reported that two people were injured in the accident.
Past passive